My incredibly talented artist friend Alan Bull has a sweater that belonged to his dad, and he's been promising me a show and tell for over a month. Today our orbits aligned and over he came with the sweater.

Given the motif, many people (raise your broom if you're Canadian) would recognize this immediately as a curling club sweater. BCC for Belfast Curling Club is knit into the left shoulder, which is where Alan's dad used to play when he was a business guy in Maine in the 1950's. Alan's sister has been in possession of the sweater since college, and recently, Alan has been getting his turn.

It's beautifully made, in traditional pieced construction, hand seamed everywhere, even the shoulders. The pockets have a nice top edge detail in particular:

This good old wool has held up beautifully for almost 60 years. There's hardly a sign of wear but for that little red fray and a place on the back hem where the edge is just now beginning to give way. The Talon Brass separating zipper is a beauty, tarnished poetically and still working like new. And the sweater has a wonderful back:

I think Alan should wear it all the time, since it just suits the whole lost America quality thing he has going on with his work. You should click over to his site to admire. Alan's truck paintings especially have a wistful quality, with just the right amount of melancholy. There's a lot of good stuff in all of his galleries, so wander around a little. I mean c'mon. The guy has such a great sweater!

I am really excited to tell you that my first pattern has been published in a paper magazine. The preview for the Spring issue of Interweave Knits has been released, and there among the sweaters and shawls is something I designed.

I love the model they chose to wear it. Her skin tone is a gorgeous compliment to the taupe of the colorwork, and she fits into the sweater exactly as I would have liked. Thank you to Eunny and the style crew.

The detail at the nape is one of my favorite parts: it's a heart with wings!

This is my photo from last July, you can see the detail of the heart a little better.

The birds on the sleeves are based on traditional Transylvanian embroidery, but I came up with a new pattern rather than use any existing motif, mostly because they fit better into the sleeve dimensions than any of the patterns I could find.

I ended up liking my own take on the bird motif better anyway. Lesson learned, just like something from Austin Kleon's Steal Like an Artist.

More pretty pictures (they did a great job):

Side vents, shirt tail hem

keyhole neck, tied here, also nice left open for a v-neck

You can really tell how lovely the yarn is in this shot

Bartók is knit using Classic Elite's Majestic Tweed, which is a gorgeous blend of wool, silk, and angora, with a touch of nylon to hold it together beautifully, and it works up quickly on a size 9 needle at 4 stitches to the inch. It has a great softness for an Aran weight yarn, you'll be surprised how cushy and drapey it is all at once.

I'm not much of a fashion illustrator

The Ravelry page for the Bartók Tunik is here. It's been a real confidence boost to be published like this. It's a strange feeling to send a sweater off into the void to wait for what others make of it, and then to love the result. Thank you so much to Classic Elite, to the people at Knits, and to the fabulous Amy Christoffers, who urged me to give it a try.